This is a Christian blog dealing with various issues. “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” -Charles Spurgeon. Scripture is my authority for all things regarding to life and godliness. 2 Cor. 10: 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

The Doctrine of Seperation

It is clearly a vital duty of Christians to stand apart from
false teachers who deny the fundamentals of the faith. 'Do not be mixed up with
them,' says the apostle Paul (see 2 Corinthians 6.14),
'Do not associate.' Full Bible references follow the article. This duty has
become known as the doctrine of separation....

The question arises – how should evangelicals who obey God's
call to stand apart treat fellow-evangelicals who refuse to do so? Should they
maintain full fellowship, or stand apart from those who disobey? The latter is
called secondary separation.

In the past, independent churches, Strict Baptist churches and
Brethren assemblies in Britain have practically all held that secondary
separation, often with great regret, is also our duty, but nowadays we hear
pastors of such churches saying they do not believe in secondary separation.
Some call it 'hyper-separation' and make it sound harsh and loveless. We have
even heard it called 'the sin of schism'....

It should not be forgotten that the duty of separation, whether
primary or secondary, is laid upon us in the Bible by the infinite kindness of
God. Far from being loveless, it is a Gospel-preserving and a church-protecting
duty. It is designed for our blessing and power. It is to keep us from a
thousand snares and heartaches....

If a
minister in an apostate denomination is knowingly, wilfully and actively
cooperating with false teachers we should have no fellowship with him, but if such a man is
grieved by his non-evangelical colleagues, remonstrating with them, witnessing
to them, and declining cooperation with them, then we must respect him, and be
charitable. Perhaps he has never considered his position. We should certainly
recognise him as a brother, fellowship with him privately, pray for him and
persuade him to leave that denomination if we can. However, we would be
unable to share a platform with him, or ask him to preach for us, because that
would endorse his apostate denomination and confuse God’s people. But we would
not withdraw ourselves from him to the extent that we would from a wilfully
disobedient evangelical minister who cooperates with his denominational false
teachers….

"To
prove the point we remember the way in which Dr Lloyd-Jones refused to
work with Billy Graham, and this is a significant example of secondary
separation. In 1963 the evangelist asked Dr Lloyd-Jones to chair the
first World Congress on Evangelism (eventually held in Berlin in 1966;
predecessor to Lausanne). Dr Lloyd-Jones told Billy Graham that if he would
stop having liberals and Roman Catholics on his platform and drop the
invitation system he would support and chair the Congress…."

"Billy
Graham would not change his views, and Dr Lloyd-Jones declined to endorse or
commend or work with him. No doubt the meeting between them was
courteously conducted (it lasted three hours) but the outcome was a
firm application of secondary separation. Dr Lloyd-Jones adopted the
same attitude to Billy Graham's London crusades. He took the view, and stated
it publicly, that to have visible unity with those who are opposed to essential
matters of salvation was sinful. (He also believed the invitation system was a
source of mass-delusion and harm to churches.)"

"In 2 John 11 we learn that the
one who even expresses a blessing to a false teacher is a participant in his
evil deeds. God assigns guilt to the non-separator, and we must not brush that
aside."

The
obligatory, insistent, imperative nature of the commands shown below, tells us
how great a wrong it is to reject them, and why the principle of 2
Thessalonians 3.6 and 14 must take its course toward those who do.

I would just add that Billy Graham has made a thorough and clear claim that
there are people saved and in Christ who don't even know it, nor have they
heard the name of Jesus Christ nor His Gospel. This on it's own makes Billy
Graham a false teacher and worthy of direct or primary separation.

What follows is a brief
article published in the Sword & Trowel early
in 1971, soon after the Metropolitan Tabernacle had seceded once again from the
Baptist Union. It had done so before, in 1887, but in 1955 rejoined, during a
‘low’ period of the church. When the present pastor arrived at the Tabernacle
in October 1970, the remaining members were fervent for secession, which was
unanimously resolved at a church meeting held on 22nd February 1971....

Charles Haddon Spurgeon withdrew from the Union when he
discovered that there was no basis of faith strong enough to restrict
membership to evangelical believers. He was deeply grieved by the
influx of modernists into the denomination. Today the position is far
worse, as the denomination has been practically completely taken over by
non-evangelicals.

Some evangelicals would say that we should stay in the Union to
win it back. While we acknowledge this policy to be sincerely meant, it has never been successful whenever it has been
tried in the history of the Christian Church. Once a religious
denomination has gone into such serious decay that the majority of its members
no longer believe the biblical faith, it has never been possible to save it.

More important still is the fact that God has told us what our
course of action should be in this situation. We are not at liberty to use our
human wisdom and say ‘we must remain in it – to win it’, for the Word of God
has already bidden us to come out of it. (The same scriptures just quoted in connection with the
ecumenical movement speak to us on this matter also.) Should we go on
having fellowship with modernists; giving monetary support to liberals; and
identifying our message with that of non-evangelicals? We believe
the Lord has clearly given us our instructions for Biblical Separation in his
Word.

A further source of guidance to us has been the clear example of
our Lord Jesus Christ in his dealings with the Jewish religious parties of his
day (who believed more of the Bible than many of the modernistic Baptists with
whom we are in fellowship)....

About Me

My name is Denise. I grew up in the Charismatic movement, but God delivered me out of it, and I thank Him for that. My heart is to show other believers the error of various movements(WOF, NAR, Seeker Friendly, Reformed theology/New Calvinism).I want to help them find truth through Scripture. I love the Word of God and hold it dear to my heart. It is the standard by which I filter everything, including doctrine & politics, including my own thoughts and actions. Ps 138:2
There is One God, and within the One God there are three distinct, co-equal and co-eternal persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit(1Peter 1:2; Matt. 28:19; Matt. 3:16-17; John 14:16-17). Literal 6 day Creation is Truth.Scripture is infallible, inerrant, & God-breathed (2Tim. 3:16, Heb.4:12, Ps. 19 & 119). Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone apart from any works (baptism, prayers, walking an aisle, etc.) so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-10). God is totally Sovereign in ALL things (Ps 33). I do mean ALL. Man is responsible for his sin. God is responsible for saving the elect through HIS means.